Microsoft to change Xbox One Financial reporting and Omit Sale and Shipping Statistics

For some time now, Microsoft has chosen to omit Xbox One sale numbers from its financial reports. They have been cagey and vague about it probably because it is not selling well and they want to avoid upsetting investors. They will be using a new financial reporting approach by measuring how much content is sold per Xbox One rather than how many Xbox One consoles are sold.

Alex Osborn from IGN reported:

“As first reported by Game Informer, the company is shifting its focus away from console sales and over to Xbox Live activity. As such, Microsoft will be reporting on Xbox hardware sales periodically, but tracking its monthly active user base will be the primary metric going forward.

” ‘This presented the opportunity for a fresh way to look at how we report on Xbox results. We have been delivering a service-centric approach for the Xbox business for some time and now have Xbox now available across Windows 10 devices. Our measurement for success is focused on engagement on Xbox as a key driver for monetization.’ “

One issue that Matt Futter from Game Informer mentions is how Microsoft recently has chosen not to report exact Xbox One revenue, but instead they bundle Xbox One and Xbox360 sales into one revenue statistic. It seems to me that Microsoft is becoming less transparent about Xbox One’s level of success or failure. Matt Futter had the following to say:

“While that doesn’t mean we won’t hear about console shipment statistics, it won’t be something we should expect to see every quarter…

…The company does indicate that total gaming hardware revenue is down year-over-year, attributing the decline to lower sales of Xbox 360. A further breakdown across console types is unavailable. Xbox Live has seen a boom over last year at the same time, though. Usership is up 28 percent to 39 million. “

People believe that it is too late for Microsoft to catch up to PS4’s success level. This may be true, but there is still many years left to catch up.

If you would like to see the financial reports from Microsoft follow the link below.